The Week Ahead... (Dec. 19)

Tuesday – Nashville @ Washington Capitals
This is the second of two meetings between the Preds and Caps this season, one of the three Eastern Conference teams the Preds play twice during the regular season. The Preds picked up the 3-1 win last month at Bridgestone on a game-winner by Colin Wilson. Shea Weber, Mike Fisher and Martin Erat all collected two points in that game. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Tennessee (Comcast HD 1675) with radio coverage on the Preds Radio Network including flagship station 102.5FM The Game. Puck drops at 6:00pm/CT.

Thursday – Nashville vs Columbus Blue Jackets
Nashville will face-off against Central Division rival Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday for the fourth time this season. The Preds are 2-0-1 against the Jackets, with all of the games coming down to just a one goal difference.
Thursday is also another College Night, presented by Taco Bell. With proof of a college ID, receive an upper bowl ticket for $15 or a lower bowl ticket for $25. Drink specials will be offered to all those in attendance through the first intermission. Radio coverage for the game will be on the Preds Radio Network including flagship station 102.5FM The Game. Puck drops at 7:00pm/CT.

Friday – Nashville @ Dallas Stars
The Preds head into a mini-Christmas Break with the back end of a back-to-back set. Nashville will face-off against another Western Conference rival on Saturday, the Dallas Stars. These two teams have yet to meet this season, but will do so four times in the 2012 portion of the schedule. Last season the two teams went 2-2-0 with Colin Wilson and David Legwand leading the way with four points apiece against the Stars. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Tennessee (Comcast HD 1675) with radio coverage on the Preds Radio Network including flagship station 102.5FM The Game. Puck drops at 7:30pm/CT.

This Week...
As the holiday’s approach, the Preds don’t show any signs of slowing down. The team travels to Washington on Tuesday to take on Joel Ward and the Washington Capitals before returning home on Thursday to faceoff against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Preds then head right back out on the road on Friday for a quick tilt against the Dallas Stars before celebrating the Christmas holiday over the weekend.

Injury Report

The Predators are currently listing no injured players

The Week That Was...
The Preds spent some time at home last week, with three games at Bridgestone Arena. Nashville posted its first win of the week on a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. Matt Halischuk opened the scoring at 11:43 of the first with his first goal since November 17 and Colin Wilson tallied his third game-winning goal of the season. Ryan Suter led the team with 28:22 minutes of ice time. The most exciting victory of the week came against an appropriate opponent, the Detroit Red Wings. In a high-tempo, fast-paced game on Thursday at Bridgestone Arena, the Preds were down by one goal in the final 4:24 of the third period. Captain Shea Weber scored two goals in that time, with one coming on the power play, and hoisted his team to victory. Detroit native David Legwand and Jordin Tootoo also scored for Nashville in its fourth straight victory. A sold-out Bridgestone Arena got their money’s worth on Saturday with Nashville’s 2-1 shootout victory over the St Louis Blues. David Legwand scored the only shootout goal and Pekka Rinne finished with 39 saves in the Preds fifth consecutive victory.

Rinne led the team in net, stopping 111-of-116 shots in the three games for a .957 save percentage and 1.62 goals against average. The Preds received balanced scoring last week, with 13 different players recording at least one point and five players posting multi-point weeks. Martin Erat and Shea Weber paced the team with three points each. David Legwand had two points and added a shootout winner.

Jon Blum (JonBlum7) - what an unbelievable opportunity I got today to set up @Latta17 in practice so fortunate to be on the same Ice with him again #bff (Dec. 14)

Prospect of the Week... Austin Watson -- Nashville's first round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Watson extended his scoring streak to six consecutive games, including the primary assist on the game-winning goal in Peterborough's win on December 15. This weekend Watson went out to Alberta for the start of Team USA's World Junior Championships training camp and scored the shootout clinching conversion in Team White's 2-1 intra-squad win on Sunday. Team USA has three pre-tournamant scrimmages this week: vs. Russia on Tuesday, vs. Switzerland on Wednesday, vs. Slovakia on Friday.